On April 3 Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation that would make sweeping changes to federal financial aid. The bill, given the short name ''Strengthening Student Aid for All Act,'' is intended to ensure students have sufficient access to financial aid, in the forms of both grants and loans.

Student indebtedness has been a hot topic as of late, and some schools are taking it upon themselves to educate their students about finance management. Some schools, such as Bowling Green State University, have implemented counseling programs that are separate from financial aid offices.

On March 17, 2008, witnesses testified before the Senate Education Committee regarding the availability of federal student loans. The committee met at Northeastern University in Boston and was called by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Recent reports of possibly reduced or no funds for the fall semester have prompted Congress to take action.

Harvard Law School recently announced it will waive tuition for third-year law students. These students may see a savings of more than $40,000. The condition is that they must pledge to work for five years with the government or a nonprofit organization. Harvard Law already offers loan forgiveness programs to students choosing public service work upon graduation.

The Pennsylvania State University system announced this week that it will move to the Direct Loan Program. The Direct Loan Program is the funding arm of the U.S. Department of Education and offers Stafford and PLUS loans, among others. The Direct Loan Program is funded by the U.S. Treasury.

A lawsuit against a Massachusetts college was filed last month. The lawsuit alleges the college charges students in its study-abroad program full tuition and room and board even though the program costs thousands of dollars less. The lawsuit claims the college pockets the difference.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative George Miller (D-CA) wrote to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings urging her to take action to ensure the availability of loans for students. They also stressed the importance of studentsâ€™ receiving their funds in a timely manner and thus expressed their concern over the uncertainty in the student loan industry.

The American Bar Association released this week findings from its report on law school enrollment. The report was conducted by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The report only includes ABA-approved law schools.

In a bipartisan effort, both Democrats and Republicans are calling for a simplification of the financial aid application process. Both parties last month voted in approval of a bill that would allow applicants to simply check a box on their tax returns. Certain information required for financial aid would then be directly sent to the Department of Education. This information would automatically answer questions found on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The Green Bag, the self-described ''entertaining journal of law,'' has announced it will join in on the rankings of law schools by examining the claims made by law schools about their faculty and comparing them to the actual performance of faculty members.